Roasted Eggplant and Tahini Soup, or Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway

I’ve never liked eggplant. (I’ve also never liked snorting raspberry jelly out my nose, but that’s a story for another day.) If I felt like playing the blame game, I could probably point the finger at my mother for my life-long eggplant aversion.

“It’s her fault!” I could proclaim to the judge and jury, throwing platefuls of moussaka and veggie stacks onto the courtroom floor à la Matt Preston in that awful choreographed Masterchef moment. “She never gave me eggplant as a child! Her allergies left me out in the cold, eggplant-wise!”

Roasted eggplants, tinged blue by Smurf Kitchen.

Such an accusation would, however, be unfounded. My mother is also allergic to tomatoes, but you’ll never see me shying away from a puttanesca or a bouillabaisse. Nor can she eat peanuts, and yet we all know about my flavoured peanut butter addiction. (What? It’s better than being addicted to crack.)

In all honesty, I can’t tell you why I’ve never enjoyed eggplant. All I know is that its spongy texture gives me the heebie jeebies, and so I have avoided it as much as possible.

Eggplant getting naked.

Several days ago, I decided it was high time to give eggplant another shot. To feel the fear and do it anyway. Sure, I avoided the textural issue by roasting the eggplants then pureeing them with spices and tahini, but you know what? This was a good move. I can now say that I quite enjoy eggplant… in a certain format. Time will tell how I fare when meeting it alone in a darkened alley. Or grilled in a panini. Whichever comes first.

Prick eggplants all over with a fork, then place on a greased oven tray and roast until soft, about 1 hour. Peel once the eggplants are cool enough to touch (we don’t want any burnt fingers now, do we?), then chop coarsely.

Heat oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, garlic, and cumin until onion is softened and mix is fragrant. Add in eggplant and stock, bring to the boil, then simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Allow to cool 5-10 minutes, then blend or process until pureed. (Do this either in batches in a food processor/blender, or with a handheld blender stick thingamajig that goes directly into the pot. I loves me that thingamajig.)

Reheat soup in saucepan with tahini and lemon juice. Divide between bowls and dollop with natural yogurt.

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21 Responses

Eggplant done well is amazing. AMAZING. I never thought I liked it, but then realised that I’d just never had it served in a way that didn’t COMPLETELY SUCK.
I love it absolutely drowned in olive oil… cooked so that its texture is more akin to butter than vegetable. Preferably then lovingly placed atop pizza/pasta. Also loooovee tempura eggplant. Oh god. Help meeee.

L-Izzle: I’ll help you… to the nearest izakaya, where I shall watch you turn to jelly before tempura, then steal all your sea salt truffles whilst you’re incapacitated. That’s what your perfect woman would do, right?

Fiona: Dear heavens, no. I think the naughtiest thing I ever did at school was sneak into the cooking rooms with friends during winter, so that we could heat our food up in the microwaves. Snorting sherbert… that must’ve been fizzy.

Lorraine: *bursts out laughing* I am absolutely NOT joking when I say I just finished scraping clean my jar of Cinnamon Raisin pb with a spoon. Are you outside my window right now?

Agnes: Teehee, I’m so in love with the fact I got you to say heebie jeebies. That phrase simply is not used enough these days! But this works – I’ll eat all the pureed eggplants, you can eat the spongy ones.

Laura: Tahini is fast becoming one of my current addictions (see above cinnamon raisin pb comment for why I’m feeling a bit ODed on pb…). You could tell Tim it’s zucchini soup… he might not be able to tell… It’ll be like hiding carrots in spaghetti bolognaise!

Simply Life: It was surprising good!

Whisperinggums: You know I could never truly cast you in a negative light! You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me haaaaapppppyyyy…. when you bring me pistachios and almond butter and chocolate on Wednesday…

I blame E and his eggplant aversion for keeping them out of the kitchen most of the time – but I think it is the fact that when they are good they are excellent (and usually full of oil) and when not excellent they are horrid – but I think eggplant and tahini is always a good match and love the idea of it in soup

Johanna: It seems that eggplant aversion is more common than I thought! Your comment makes me think of that old rhyme: “There was a little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead… when she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid!” Maybe someone should have fed her tahini 😀

If you like roasted eggplant, you should really try making baingan bharta. Although I do love me some baba ganoush. And the thingamajig. I probably couldn’t live without it. (The thingamajig, not baba ganoush.)

Tammy: Thank you so much! I lack any and all photogrpahy know-how so that’s very nice to hear 🙂

Camille: Yes, I should 🙂 Or, rather, you should make it with your own beloved thingamajig and send it express-post to me (okay, so I know it doesn’t really require the thingamajig, but I just like writing thinagamajig). Except, of course, Customs would definitely steal it. There goes that life plan.

Tes: Comfort food is a good description! It’s certainly a lovely warming dish for winter right now!

The Hungry Scholar: I think this recipe is the least-scary way to ease us eggplant-phobes into eggplant-acceptance. Let me know how you go if you try it! 🙂